There is a good chance that any electronics project that you embark on will involve the use of a microcontroller (in the form of an Arduino) or a single-board computer (SBC) like the Raspberry Pi. Our gadgets are becoming more intelligent, requiring a little computer brain to control them; they are also becoming more connected, often needing an interface to the internet.
A typical Maker’s electronics project these days will involve the use of a microcontroller or SBC with some electronics to switch things or sense value, or both. These extra electronics are attached to the microcontroller or SBC using its GPIO (general-purpose input/output) pins.
In this chapter the recipes mostly focus on the electronic side of interfacing with a microcontroller or SBC in general, but will also use the Arduino and Raspberry Pi as examples.
10.1 Explore Arduino
Problem
You want to understand just what an “Arduino” is and why it finds its way into so many electronics projects.
Solution
Figure 10-1 shows the most popular flavor of Arduino, the Arduino Uno R3.
Figure 10-1. An Arduino Uno
An Arduino is not a microcontroller but instead a microcontroller interface board. It has a microcontroller chip on the board, but it also has a whole load of other components that provide:
Regulated power to the microcontroller
A USB interface to program ...
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